Meet Me in Wonderland
by MadnessAndMe
Summary: {"Look, ma'am, I'm not supposed to be here-"}{"You've been having delusions of a 'demigod camp' since you were twelve, Percy. You belong exactly in here"}. In which Percy finds himself stuck in a mental hospital, and everyone's not who they're supposed to be. Is this another trick of the Fates, or is Percy's demigod life truly just a product of his delusions? [Mental Hospital AU]
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, readers!**

 **So, yeah, this is an idea that's been circling inside my head for a long while now. Basically, Percy wakes up and realizes he's not where he's supposed to be, and everyone he knew is not who they're supposed to be, and everything's not what it's supposed to be. Mm, I'm just going to post this first chapter for now, and see your opinions about it, and when I get enough fuel (in the form of reviews), I'm going to try continuing this story.**

 **Please be warned that this is my first PJaTO fanfic, plus, it's also my first multi-chapter fic, so I don't know how this'll really end. I'm kind of an unpredictable updater, which means that I could post this chapter now, and then the other one a day later, or I could post this chapter now and the other one a year later. So, yeah, my updates range from one day to a year.**

 **Another warning: Due to the setting of the story, most characters will be slightly OOC.**

 **Oh, well, let's get optimistic now, shall we?**

 **DISCLAIMER: *types down every PJaTO disclaimer ever written***

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own those disclaimers. I merely typed them down so as to notify you that I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians/The Heroes of Olympus (and also because I'm too lazy to be creative at disclaimers right now).**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _To anyone who's unlucky enough to get hit by this plastic bottle, thus discovering the message inside it:_

 _Hey._

 _Yeah, I'm really sorry if my bottle hit you on the head. There's not much here inside this weird place that I can use to relay my message. The bottle's the only thing I could find._

 _Anyways, you might be wondering why I'm so desperate to get this message across. I'll explain that later. Right now, please, PLEASE, bring this plastic bottle and this message to SALLY JACKSON-BLOFIS. I know you can find her; there aren't many Blofises there in Manhattan. Just please, bring this message to her, and tell her to read the pink folded napkin next to this piece of tissue paper._

 _By the way, under any circumstances, DON'T READ THE PINK FOLDED NAPKIN, no matter how curious you already are._

 _So yeah, sorry to bother you, but this is really important. Really, REALLY important. I need help right now, I mean, who wouldn't need help if you wake up inside a plain, white room with a mentally unstable man a meter away from you trying to rip off teddy bears and suddenly you realize that YOU'RE IN A FRICKIN' MENTAL HOSPITAL!?_

-/-

Percy slammed down the pen, messily crossed out the last paragraph and crumpled the twentieth tissue paper he had ripped out from a roll.

 _Ugh, no one will believe me._

Twenty minutes had passed since he woke up and realized that he wasn't in Camp Half-Blood. He knew something was wrong the moment he opened his eyes. The walls weren't blue, like his cabin's, and although he could smell the sea from outside, it wasn't the Camp Half-Blood scent that he had been so used to.

Then he saw the scrawny teenager leaning on the other side of the room. A blond-haired, young man in a straight-jacket, with a bunch of mutilated teddy bears strewn all around him. The boy basically made him realize that he was in a mental hospital. Percy didn't bother trying to talk to the guy, because whenever he tried to get closer the man gave him a look that basically translated to "I'm gonna rip you off like these teddy bears..."

That gave Percy enough reason to back off, really quickly.

He spent the next ten minutes trying to find a way to escape, and after finding none, he spent another ten minutes looking for something to write on, because surprisingly, pen-Riptide was still tucked inside the pocket of his jeans. The only problem was that he couldn't seem to turn it back into a sword. He had tried almost two dozen times, but to no avail. It seemed that something inside the building was preventing him from using his sword. The ink wasn't even golden, just the typical black tint.

Thankfully, he spotted a roll of tissue paper from the bathroom, along with a pink napkin and a plastic bottle in the garbage can. He needed to tell Annabeth, message-in-a-bottle style. It was either those three or nothing.

One hour later and he was still trying to scribble down a message, failing every single time.

"Darnit..." he muttered to himself, ripping off another piece of tissue paper.

"Darnit"

Percy's head perked up.

Did his 'roommate' just speak?

"Darnit," the teenager muttered again. "Darnit, darnit, darnit, darnit..."

The guy was moving now, struggling against his straight-jacket.

"Gonna rip you all..." he chuckled to himself, glaring down at his mutilated teddy bears. "Rip, rip, RIP!"

Percy stood up from his seat and hastily stepped back, making the guy raise his head to look at him. _Oh crap..._ Percy thought. He didn't know why the guy was making him jumpy and scared, but he knew better than to come closer.

He had a really, really bad feeling. It felt like he _already_ knew what would happen if the crazy boy escaped from his bonds. The scene in front of him seemed familiar, somewhat, but he couldn't remember.

"RIP! GONNA RIP YOU ALL!" the guy was literally trying to stand up and lunge at Percy, but the chained straight-jacket was keeping him down. "RIP! RipripripripripRIPPPP! RYAAAAAA!"

Percy took one look at the straight jacket, then back at the teenager's crazed face. Then back at the straight-jacket, because it took him a few seconds to notice that it was tearing apart.

 _Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap..._

He tightened his grip around pen-Riptide, hoping that it would eventually turn into a sword that he could use for self-defense, because somehow, he knew that the bonds couldn't hold off Mr. Teddy Bear Ripper for long. Once again, the thought seemed familiar to him, he just couldn't place his memories in the exact right position. Had he encountered something like this before?

Then it happened.

The straight-jacket _tore up._ Mr. Teddy Bear Ripper _lunged_. Percy _screamed._

Percy had encountered things worse than a kid obsessed with tearing apart stuffed animals , so why was he screaming?

The guy was exactly like a feral dog, and as soon as he escaped from his bonds he immediately tackled Percy to the ground. For a scrawny kid, the guy was strong. Percy raised his legs and connected them with the boy's gut, throwing him back a few meters away. Percy took the opportunity to stand up and look for a source of water.

Despite the building being noticeably seaside, the water from that part was too far away and thus his only option was to resort to the toilet water from the bathroom. Percy focused his mind on the water and waited for the familiar tug on his gut, the one he always felt whenever he used his aquakinesis.

It never came. Instead, Percy was yet again tackled back to the ground by the crazy boy.

"RIP!" the boy screamed, teeth gnashing wildly. "I'M GONNA RIP YOU-"

"Octavian!" someone interrupted, "Get back to where you belong!"

 _Wait, Octavian? What the..._

The boy went silent, crawling back to the corner he originally sat at and staring back at the dozens of teddy bears he had probably mangled. Two people, clad in white, immediately rushed in to bind him in a brand new straight-jacket. Percy could clearly see his features now. Scrawny, pale, blond-haired and sunken blue eyes. How was it possible? The augur had died a few months ago, accidentally blasting himself off on an Onager in an attempt to destroy Gaea. Now here he was, still mutilating teddy bears, looking as alive as he was when Percy first met him.

Was he in the Underworld? The Fields of Asphodel, maybe? It might vaguely explain why the augur was out of character, but then again, that wasn't how souls acted in the Fields of Asphodel. They were more...indifferent and emotionless, contrasting Octavian's aggression. Percy couldn't think of any possible reason why Octavian was right there in front of him.

"W-what the Hades..." was all Percy could mutter before transferring his eyes to the woman leaning on the door. She was in her 50's, with graying hair and stoic, hard eyes. Percy had almost forgotten that he was still stuck in a psychiatric hospital until he saw her. She seemed to be one of the hospital staff, probably a superior, even.

And she was looking at Percy.

"Mr. Perseus Jackson," she started, making Percy tense. Only friends, family and _enemies_ knew his real name, and since the woman was obviously not part of the first two groups, Percy was going to go for the third option. "I'd like to talk to you about your...roommate."

She gestured for him to come over. Percy hesitated; it wouldn't be smart to get near something you suspect to be a monster.

But Percy was good at not being smart, and there was no way of escaping the room except through the open door that the woman was leaning on, so he had no other choice but to come near (warily) and play along.

"I apologize, we shouldn't have put you in the same room with Octavian," she pushed her wire-rimmed glasses back to the bridge of her nose as the two of them walked out of the room, locking the door as they left. "That young man has an...obsession with stuffed animals..."

Percy let her talk, but he was still too confused by what was happening, so her words just kind of passed through his ears and back to thin air. Right now, he was intent of figuring out why he ended up here, why his powers and his sword weren't working and why a deceased augur was currently locked up in a room, alive yet disoriented.

Or maybe he could just find a way to escape and forget that this all happened.

What if this was a dream? Percy had pinched himself when he woke up, of course, and the pain was real enough to convince him that this probably wasn't a dream. But he asked himself, over and over: _What if?_

"...must have mistaken you for a life-sized doll." the woman stopped. "Mr. Jackson, is something bothering you?"

 _What if this is some kind of trick?_

"Mr. Jackson?"

 _What if I'm dead? No, I can't be dead._

"Mr. Jackson!"

The exclaim cut Percy off from his thoughts. "Let me ask you again, is something bothering you?"

"A lot of things, actually," Percy decided to let it slip, gripping pen-Riptide tightly by his side, "Like why I woke up in a psychiatric hospital when I'm supposed to be in my bedroom,"

The woman raised an eyebrow, "Don't you remember, Mr. Jackson? Your mother admitted you to this hospital two days ago."

Percy almost choked on his nonexistent saliva. _What? Two days ago? Mom?_

"Look, you must be mistaken, ma'am. I've never been to this hospital up until I woke up in that bed." Percy looked around for an exit. _Something about this hospital feels very wrong._ "I'm not supposed to be here."

"You've been having delusions of a 'demigod camp' since you were twelve, and you think you're half-god, specifically the son of Poseidon, with the ability to control water. You almost drowned in a swimming pool because you were convinced that you can breathe underwater. You barged inside the Empire State Building and told the receptionist to bring you to a nonexistent '600th floor'. You love talking to horses, and tried to jump off a building while riding a black horse because you thought it was a pegasus." she counted all of it off with her fingers.

What followed next was silence as Percy tried to process everything that she just said.

"You've actually got a lot of cases, Mr. Jackson, and they're all too many to mention," she continued, "But just recently, you tried to attack your mother with a pen because you thought she was a monster in disguise. That's how you ended up here. Your mother's been trying to put up with your delusions for five years, Mr. Jackson. What you did to her recently was the last straw."

 _That's impossible,_ Percy thought to himself, still in disbelief at what the woman said.

"Look, ma'am, that's impossible." Percy insisted, still looking around. "I can't even do that to my mom."

Around him seemed like a mediocre kind of chaos. It was like silence and noise were clashing all at the same time, because from somewhere in the back, smoke was billowing out of a room and someone was screaming "FLAME ON!", while on another corner, hospital patients were huddled together, just staring at each other as if one of them was going to pop anytime soon.

"But you did, Mr. Jackson." the woman cot off his thoughts, yet again. "It was actually recorded on a CCTV, if you want some proof."

"Look, this is all a mistake. I really don't belong here-"

"You belong _exactly_ in here, Mr. Jackson. You've got the symptoms of being delusional, and denial just further strengthens the fact." she interrupted, staring straight at Percy. "What makes you think otherwise?"

"The guy who's currently mutilating teddy bears over there is supposed to be dead!" he responded almost immediately. "And that demigod camp you were talking about? It's not a delusion, it's real, and I'm mysteriously shipped off to this psychiatric hospital when I'm supposed to be there!"

He put a hand inside his jeans pocket, feeling for Riptide, which was thankfully still there. "I've been playing around this whole time, ma'am, but I know you're a monster. I still haven't figured out what kind of monster you are, but I'm sure of it. This whole hospital is probably filled with your kind, and you're all trying to kill me. I'm right, aren't I?"

The woman stared at him blankly, blinking a few times before finally speaking.

"What?" she spoke nonchalantly, then chuckled under her breath, like Percy just said a corny joke and she just laughed because he was trying so hard to sound funny. "Mr. Jackson, this is exactly why you were sent off to this hospital."

"Don't play dumb with me," Percy brought Riptide and took off the cap. Percy smiled. It seems that whatever was preventing Anaklusmos from transforming inside the room was not present here, because a second later he felt the familiar weight of his sword.

Beside him, the woman was turning into something else.

 _Of course she's a monster, what else could she be?_

Percy raised his blade and sliced at her before she could even strike. The woman backed away as golden dust poured from her side. _Definitely_ a monster.

It didn't take a long time for everyone to notice what Percy was doing, but he didn't care. This place was filled with monsters, and he knew he couldn't finish all of them one by one. He needed to escape, and the woman was preventing him from moving any further. She was watching him very closely, and Percy could tell that escaping from her wouldn't be easy.

Percy waited for the right time and charged, kicking her to the ground and raising his sword to strike. The blade went down and Percy was sure he had pierced through something important. The heart, maybe, or whatever a monster's alternative of a heart was.

Instead, he was face-to-face with a very terrified woman, and what was once his sword was just a pen once more. It was an inch away from the woman stomach. Her wound had disappeared along with the golden dust that poured from it.

To Percy, it was impossible. He was _sure_ that Riptide had turned into a sword. He was _sure_ that it didn't revert back to pen form. He was _sure_ that the woman had transformed into a monster.

But he wasn't sure if being sure meant that what just happened wasn't his imagination.

Before he could open his mouth to speak, two of the hospital staff grabbed him in an iron grip and tackled him to the ground, away from the woman. Riptide had dropped in the process, and the struggle he exerted to grab it wasn't successful. People had huddled around him, hospital patients and the staff alike. Percy felt a weird sense of deja vu just by looking at the people. He saw familiar faces mixed in the crowd. Faces of campers and people he knew.

 _Why are they here?_

One of the men pushed his head and collided it with the ground, while the other produced a syringe from his uniform and plunged the needle into Percy's forearm.

Percy felt sleepy, but he wanted to stay awake for a few more minutes to look closer at the crowd surrounding him. He wanted to make sure he wasn't hallucinating and that they were actually there.

He wanted...to...

 _So...sleepy..._

 _blonde hair...in the crowd..._

 _princess...curls...?_

 _wait..._

 _Annabeth...?_

Everything went black.

* * *

 **So yeah, that's the first chapter! The last part kind of made me sleepy, too, because it's night right now and that's why it feels rushed to me (does it feel rushed to you?)**

 **So, yeah, hope you enjoyed it! I had a really fun time writing the first chap, and I'm just kind of seeing where this'll lead to, so please type in what you think of it in the reviews! Criticism is very much welcome and appreciated. You can't do something right without knowing what's wrong, xD!**

 **So, yeah (for the third time), once again I hope you liked it!**

 **\- MadnessAndMe**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, readers!**

 **So, here you go! I've decided to continue this story because of the great feedback I've received (I know there are only two reviews and I know that I sound exaggerated, but those reviews are precious to me and so are the favorites and follows!) I never really expected to get those kinds of things, so thank you! (Acknowledgements and review replies are posted at the bottom).**

 **So, as always:**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

"I had this really weird dream..." Percy said as he took a bite from his green pancake. There he was, back in the dining pavilion in Camp Half-Blood. A few hours ago he had opened his eyes and realized that he was back at Camp. It was as if the whole mental institution incident had never happened.

Annabeth looked at him with a raised eyebrow the way she always did whenever Percy sounded like an idiot. "Demigods _always_ dream weird, Percy,"

"But this was _different_. No gods appearing, no warnings about the future, nothing like that. This was completely, totally different." he insisted. "I _always_ know if I'm dreaming, Annabeth, but this one was like waking up in a completely different world, and you don't realize that it isn't actually real."

Annabeth leaned a bit closer, serious, "Tell me about it, then."

"I was in a mental institution, and Octavian was my roommate," Percy started, and although the sentence didn't sound too serious, Annabeth nodded at him to continue, still attentive despite the mention of the dead augur. She knew when her boyfriend was kidding or not.

"The guy was still the same, of course, still tearing apart stuffed animals, but he was ten times more violent. He tried to attack me and I was defenseless. Riptide and my powers weren't working. Then came this old woman who ordered Octavian to get back to where he's supposed to be." Percy continued, chewing bits of his pancake as he spoke. "Can you believe it? Octavian, following orders? Either way, the guy was completely out-of-character, and that got me thinking: What if this is a dream? I pinched myself, _hard_ , and it actually hurt a lot, so I was convinced that it wasn't a dream."

"Did you feel sure that it wasn't a dream?" Annabeth asked.

"I felt _so_ sure that it was real...yet at the same time I couldn't shake off the feeling that it was all a fake reality," he responded, then continued the narrative, "So, yeah, back to the story. The woman led me away from Octavian and told me that I had been in the hospital for two days, even though I can't remember being in there until I woke up. She told me that I had been hallucinating Camp Half-Blood, and being a demigod, and that recently I tried to kill my mother because I thought she was a monster."

He paused for a bit to take another bite of his food. "Then the woman turned into a monster. Not that I wasn't guarded or anything. I was already suspicious of her the moment she entered Octavian's room. I attacked her with Riptide, of course. Somehow my sword had now transformed back into being an actual sword. When I was about to give the final blow, though, she's back into a now-terrified woman and I was holding pen-Riptide in my hands. Long story short, some of the hospital staff restrained me and knocked me out cold. Now I'm back here in Camp Half-Blood, and it's like the whole incident never happened."

Annabeth was silent for a moment, silently analyzing what Percy had just said. He could see it in her face; the way her eyebrows scrunched up and her eyes squinted.

"Not only that, but _you_ were there, too, Annabeth," he added, breaking Annabeth from her train of thought, although he was pretty sure that she was done thinking even before he decided to speak. "I'm not so sure, but you were one of the hospital patients, actually, mixed in with the crowd, watching as I got tackled to the ground."

"That wasn't me," Annabeth quickly responded. "If that were me I would have helped you and tackled your restrainers instead."

Percy smiled at that. Of course, they had gone through literal hell and back; two human opponents wouldn't be that much of a problem.

Then it faded as quickly as it had been formed.

"I'm worried that it might be...real," he said, about to take a bite on his pancake, only to realize that he had eaten the last piece a while ago. "What if what the woman said was true? What if I'm actually just a kid abandoned by his father and left to rot with a horrible stepfather? What if Smelly Gabe isn't actually dead, because Medusa's not real and he just actually found a decapitated head inside the fridge? Oh gods...what if somewhere, I had decapitated an actual human being who was _definitely_ not Medusa-"

"Stop." it all took one word from his girlfriend to shut Percy up. Annabeth held both of his hands and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"What if you're not real?"

"I _am_ real, Percy. Everything you've encountered so far isn't a product of your so-called 'delusions'. I'm real, Grover's real, Chiron's real, that guy over there who keeps breaking his sculptures is real, and you're real." she insisted, tightening her grip on his hands. Percy felt some of his discomfort fade away. "See? Real touch, real hands, you can feel it, right?"

Percy looked down at their entwined hands, silently counting her fingers.

 _One, two, three, four, five..._

"Yeah, I can." he responded to her question.

Annabeth smiled. "I'm going to give you a little tip. It might save your life whenever you decide to dream about mental institutions again: In dreams, people always have six fingers."

 _...six._

"Wait, what?" Percy asked, counting Annabeth's fingers again to make sure if it was actually five, not six.

 _One, two, three, four, five..._

"When you think it's a dream, tell people to hold up their hands and see if they have six fingers, not five." she answered.

... _six._

"Annabeth, hold up your hands," Percy asked. He didn't want to be right. He didn't want her to be just a dream. It must be five. It _needed_ to be five.

So he counted again.

 _One, two, three, four, five..._

"No..." he muttered to himself as everything started to turn blurry. "It can't be...you're not a dream...you _can't_ be a dream."

 _...six._

 _-/-_

 _-/-_

Percy opened his eyes and immediately sat up from the hospital bed. Despite only being around the hospital for one day, he somehow had already gotten used to it's overall appearance and atmosphere. White and dusty: two things that aren't supposed to be combined together.

"No..." he repeated again, "Dammit, it can't be..."

"What can't be?" someone asked to his left. He heard a metallic _crunch!,_ as if someone was chewing metal.

Percy tilted his head to the side and came face-to-face with someone very familiar.

" _Grover?_ " he exclaimed in bewilderment. Why was Grover here?

"Yo," his friend greeted. "How'd you know my name?"

Percy couldn't seem to answer. Has everyone somehow acquired amnesia and he was the only one who could remember everything?

"Na, forget that I asked. You probably saw my name tag over there." he pointed at the bold letters plastered on the hanging bedsheets, "You must've thought: Weird name, but hey, that would be offending to one of our former American presidents. You know, Grover Cleveland? So anyways, now you're probably thinking why someone like me was admitted to this mental hospital. No, it's not because I'm talkative or that I claim to read people's minds. It's because I have a terrible case of pica. You know what pica is, don't you? Yeah, it's when kids start eating anything besides real food. But I'm not a kid, and I don't eat 'anything'. I only eat metal, which is obviously a hazard to my health. How 'bout you?"

For a while, Percy hesitated to answer and just blinked. Was this really Grover?

"Hmm, not much of a talker, are you?" Grover concluded. "Don't ponder over my question. I know you, anyways. You've got your name tag over there and everyone saw you attack Mrs. Desorden. You're Percy Jackson, most popular delusional guy in this hospital, am I right?"

"Yeah, that's me." Percy managed to speak out. "Can you hold up your hands?"

Grover just raised an eyebrow. "First time speaking and that's what you say to me? You're weird, man."

He raised his hands anyway.

Percy counted, but this time he was hoping that it was six and that this was just another dream.

"Hey man, in case you're wondering, I have _five_ fingers, not six. I know what you're trying to do. You think I'm a dream? You think any of this is a dream? Heck no, it's not. This is all real, man. I'm the realest Grover in this whole world, and this bed is the realest bed ever to exist in this planet. Get it?" Grover counted his own fingers to prove his point. "Can't blame you, though. You're diagnosed here because of your delusions, right? You'd probably think that anything other than your self-created reality is a dream."

Percy wondered if he should tell Grover that the 'self-created reality' wasn't a self-created reality and that Grover was actually part of it, but his best friend would probably just shrug it off. No one would believe him if they think he's delusional. Just further insisting would strengthen the fact. For now, Percy decided to play along, and while doing so he was going to find out what got him here in the first place.

"Anyways, you haven't seen your new schedule yet, right? They kind of renewed it after the incident with Mrs. Desorden. Must've thought that Octavian's violent ways were getting drilled inside your mind." Grover joked, chuckling to himself. "Either way, you're now my roommate and both of us have the same schedules. Right now we're kind of free to roam around the hospital, so I'm going to give you a sort of 'tour'. Nothing fancy, I'm just gonna introduce you to some of the hospital residents. You up for that?"

"Sure, why not?" Percy didn't hesitate to answer immediately. He needed to know more about what's happening and participating in Grover's 'tour' might give him even the smallest clue .

"Very well, then." Grover smiled as he proceeded to open the door. "Welcome to the Half-Blood Hills Psychiatric Institution, otherwise known as HOPE, although that abbreviation doesn't really make any sense. Either way, everyone loves calling this place HOPE, so let's just roll with it."

He led Percy to a long hallway with doors lined up on both sides.

"You ready?" Grover inquired, walking towards the nearest door and knocking. The door's number was barely readable through the scorch marks surrounding it, but Percy managed to make out the numbers '1' and '4'. "Our resident pyromaniac lives just right here, next to our room. I know, scary, right? Don't fret, though. Leo's pretty harmless despite his weird ability to produce fire out of ordinary things. There was this one time when the hospital staff decided that it was okay to give him a toothbrush..."

Grover's ramblings continued on and on, but Percy was too distracted to listen.

 _Leo?_

He wasn't supposed to be surprised, but _schist_ , he still was. So far he had encountered Octavian and Grover, but it had never crossed his mind that maybe _all of them_ were here, in this very hospital, which also happened to be named after Half-Blood Hill. Why hadn't he figured this out before?

"...used it to ignite a flame and voila! He almost burned this very hallway." Grover finished.

Just immediately after Grover finished his sentence did the door open to reveal a familiar elfin face. Standing in front of Percy was the guy who built the Argo II, the guy who set himself on fire one too many times, the guy who sacrificed himself to stop Gaea from completely rising. It was Leo Valdez, still wearing his impish grin.

"I heard someone say 'fire'," Leo started.

"And 'fire' basically redirects you to 'Leo'," Grover added, giving Leo a high-five. "Percy, meet Leo Valdez. Leo, this is Percy Jackson."

Leo's eyes squinted, as if Percy was some guy on a wanted poster he saw just a few minutes ago. "Hey...I know you...", he paused for a moment to ponder.

Percy froze and waited, hoping that Leo was going to talk about gods and half-bloods. A few years ago, Percy would have thought: _I wish I was just a normal boy with a normal life._ But now that everything around him was normal and he was normal, he couldn't help but wish that he was back to being a demigod.

"You're that guy who attacked Mrs. Desorden with a pen!" Leo finally declared.

 _Gods darnit..._

Of course he'd say that. Why didn't Percy expect that? Why did he even hope? He was stuck in a mental asylum with all his friends' minds altered to believe they were psychiatric patients and he was the only one who actually remembered everything. It was like when he ended up in Camp Jupiter with no memory of who he was, just that now it was he who could remember and everyone else couldn't.

Was this another trick of the gods? Hera had taken his memory, once. She could do it to everyone else.

"Percy? Hey, Earth to Percy!" Grover interrupted. Leo was waving his slightly burnt hands in front of Percy's face, to which Percy responded by stepping back in surprise. "You okay, man?"

Percy hesitated for a bit, the previous thoughts still ransacking his brain, but he answered eventually.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay."

Grover raised an eyebrow, but continued anyway. "Good, 'cuz now we're moving on to the next room. Talk to you later, Leo! I've got a tourist to walk around these crazy halls."

"Yeah, go do that. It was nice to meet you, Mister Jackson. See ya' later!" the Latino boy replied before entering his small domain and shutting the door behind him. Percy could hear paper rubbing against paper from inside Leo's room.

"Are you sure it's okay to leave him alone there? I mean-"

Grover interrupted Percy before he could finish speaking, "Yeah, I'm hearing it right now, too. But nah, the hospital staff installed a bunch of those smoke-detecting water showers...I don't know what they're really called...inside Leo's room. The moment he sets something on fire, those thingies begin ejecting water and putting the flames out."

"So-"

"Yeah, as I said, he's pretty harmless." Grover interrupted again, but Percy knew that his best friend wasn't being rude. "Well, are you ready to meet your second neighbor?"

"Who?"

"Extremely smart, yet also extremely delusional and paranoid." Grover declared, looking Percy straight in the eye. "Just like you. Well, sans the 'extremely paranoid' part."

Percy felt a small chill on his spine. _Extremely smart? Wait...don't tell me..._

Grover knocked thrice, twisted the knob and pulled open the door. "Percy, meet Annabeth Chase."

 _Annabeth_.

There she was, the same stormy-grey eyes, the same blonde curls, the same analyzing look. Standing in front of him was the same daughter of Athena who had gone with him through thick and thin, through Tartarus and back.

"Annabeth?" was all that he could say.

At first her reaction was indifferent, just like Leo's, only a bit more evident on her face. She scanned both Grover and Percy from head to toe, as if they were possible threats to her very existence. Then she stared solely at Percy, and her look of indifference slowly turned into a look of recognition. At first, Percy didn't react to the change, having seen Leo do the same just a few minutes ago.

But then, Annabeth spoke.

"Percy?"

* * *

 **Aaaaannddd...there's the second chapter! Hope you liked it! XD**

 **Special thanks to:**

 **\- Kitsunegami, RareSpecies and TheNewScribeOfOlympus for following and adding this story to their favorites!**

 **\- Adrift an Open Sky, AlliyahTheAuthor, BeccaLouise, BoredUruguayan, IfOnly42 and The Luner Vampire for adding this story to their favorites!**

 **Your support is highly appreciated, XD.**

 **Now, for review replies:**

 **1.) the Dark Raven: Really? It is? Lol, I never really intended for this story to be creepy, but I appreciate your review! XD (I ain't good at writing creepy stories. I suck at those)**

 **2.) Guest: Hm...lemme guess...it's an episode from Buffy the Vampire Slayer? I'm not really sure. I haven't watched that show...YET. Thank you! *proceeds to search Normal Again on Google to see if I'm correct* YAY! I got it right! (believe me, I guessed before I researched it, :P)**

 **Five cookies for all of you! (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)**

 **\- MadnessAndMe**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, readers.**

 **It's been 3 months since my last update.**

 **I've warned you. Are you still going to continue reading this story?**

 **I'll give you ten seconds, in the form of ten dots.**

 **.**

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 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **You little rebel...**

 **Anyways, here's the third chapter.**

 **Extra note: I absolutely suck at romance, forgive me.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _"Percy?"_

Silence: That was all he could hear after she called out his name. Percy didn't know what to say. In fact, he didn't know what to _do._ There she was, standing in front of him, her stormy-grey eyes locked with his sea-green ones.

She had just said his name, and that could only mean two things.

1.) She knew him as Percy Jackson, the delusional guy who was known throughout the hospital for attacking Mrs. Desorden with a pen.

or

2.) She knew him as Percy Jackson, aka Seaweed Brain, her boyfriend.

He seriously hoped it was the latter. That would assure him that he wasn't crazy, and that Camp Half-Blood was real, and that he was supposed to save the world again. By saving the world, he meant saving the demigods from this weirdly utopic hospital. It meant saving them from yet another Lotus Casino, in which they might be trapped forever and forget everything that they once were and-

 _SMACK!_

His thoughts were interrupted by a fist directly colliding wih his face. All of the sudden, the only thing Percy could see was black, then white, then a variety of colors up until he felt his rump hit he floor. After that, he could feel a heavy weight burdening his torso, and then a hand tightly grabbing at the collar of his shirt. When his sight had cleared, he could see the same fist aimed directly at his face, about to hit him once again.

The other hand lifted him up by the collar of his shirt, and suddenly he was face-to-face with Annabeth, her eyes almost indistinguishable from her current expression: angry.

 _What the fuck?_

"And I was wishing that I wouldn't meet you again." she muttered, tightening her grip on his shirt. "It seems that fate loves screwing with me, dont'cha think?"

He had never seen Annabeth this angry, even when she had judo-flipped him during their reunion in Camp Jupiter.

From a distance, he could hear Grover mumble in a panicky voice. "Oh crap...oh crap...I should have remembered...oh shit..."

He approached Annabeth, legs trembling and mouth quivering. "Uh...hey...um, Annabeth?" he tried to call out, but seeing that his attempts were being ignored, decided to mutter. "Crap...I forgot about what happened two days ago."

Percy tried to scream as much as he can; with Annabeth clutching tight at his collar it was pretty hard to speak. "WHAT DID YOU FORGET, GROVER? Agh!"

Grover raised a quivering eyebrow (when did eyebrows quiver?). "You don't remember?!"

Right. Percy had remembered Mrs. Desorden talking about how he had already spent two days inside the hospital. _Two days._ Days he hadn't remembered spending. How the Hades could that possibly be?

"I...I honestly don't!" he exclaimed, but that only made Annabeth tighten her grip even more. The collar of Percy's shirt might as well have been ripped by now.

"Don't try lying, you jerk." she interrupted, poison in her voice. " _I_ know that _you_ know what _you_ did two days ago."

She raised her right hand and collided it with his face, sending waves of pain all over Percy's head. He could hear Grover running over, grabbing Annabeth away from Percy. The world was blurry and he could feel a gash bleeding on the side of his face from where Annabeth punched him. _Darn._ That punch _hurt._

"Woah! Woah! Calm down, woman!" even Grover's voice sounded like echos to Percy.

He could feel his eyes closing as the whole world around him turned into a blurry, beige mess.

Then, everything went black.

 _Again._

* * *

When Percy's eyes bolted wide open, he was back at Camp Half-Blood, and he had five fingers.

 _That means this isn't a dream, right?_ He asked himself. _Right?_

Somehow, he could hear himself saying no. At this point Percy didn't know what was real and what wasn't. He looked at his own hands, counting them again and again, hoping they'd stay at the number five and never add an extra finger later on.

Looking around, though, he could see no one. An eerie, silent atmosphere surrounded him, almost like a thick, physical fog. He could recognize that he was in his cabin, and he was fairly used to being alone in it, but something felt missing. The occasional banter of campers outside, the metal clangs of sparring weapons, Percy could hear _nothing._

Almost immediately, he knew something was wrong. Percy rushed to the door and pushed it open, but he wasn't met with a mix of green grass and orange t-shirts.

All he could see was a vast, empty blackness, and a man in a tuxedo in the middle. Percy recognized that face.

"Morpheus?" he called out. The god of dreams turned his head to face him, a calm smile on his face.

"Oh, they call me many names, young man." he held up his fingers as if to count. _Five,_ Percy noticed. "The Sandman, Ole Luk-Oie...heck, they even call me Wee Willie Winkie! You mortals are pretty creative, I must say."

Percy raised an eyebrow, taking a step back. "You're not Morpheus."

The man stroked his beard, eyes squinting. "I guess...you're both right and wrong, boy." he remarked. "You humans always confuse me. One second you say I'm Morpheus and then suddenly you say I'm the Sandman and so on and so forth! I mean, come on! Don't go all _Orphan Black_ on me. I'm currently on an identity crisis because of you mortals!"

For a moment, Percy couldn't speak. "I-if you're not Morpheus...then who are you?"

The man gave him a faint glare. "Oh, but I _am_ Morpheus, boy." he answered. "You call me Morpheus on _your_ world."

"My world?"

"Oh, you know? Demigods and stuff?" the man explained further. "I'm the god of dreams there, which is pretty funny, because to me, the word 'dream' is pretty...unfamiliar, I guess?"

Percy's eyebrows furrowed, almost as if they're trying to reach his nose. "Wait...what do you mean?"

The man raises his palms in a waving motion, as if to shoo Percy away. "Oh, you'll find out someday, young man." he said. "I'm pretty sure you've got more things to worry about. Things far more confusing than me not knowing what the word 'dream' is, no? Now, go along. You've still got a lot to uncover, _Perseus Jackson_."

Before Percy could talk any further, the man's figure dissolved into sand, scattered away by a nonexistent wind. He turned around, only to find that his cabin was no more.

 _Wake up._

He raised his hands, leveling it to his eyes, and counted.

 _One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve._

 _Wake up._

Twelve?

Looking back, all he could see was a swirling mess of tan.

Then, darkness.

* * *

"He's awake!" for a moment, Percy thought that Grover was speaking through a megaphone. His head was throbbing, and he could feel a band-aid plastered on the left side of his cheek. "Leo! He's awake!"

 _Wait, wha-_

Before he could register the situation any further, he felt rough hands grip tightly on his shoulders, shaking him back and forth. Another person jumped on his bed, bouncing up and down like a little kid. The chaos inside the room might as well have been an ongoing earthquake.

"Wait, s-stop!" he cried out, his voice cutting off every now and then because he was being bounced, too. "S-seriously! STAHP IT!"

They didn't do so for a good ten seconds, but stopped eventually when they noticed that Percy was turning green. As far as Percy knew, he didn't have motion sickness, but maybe being shaken around to such an extent could do that to even the most healthy person.

"Darn, that punch must've really hurt." Leo remarked, jumping off from Percy's bed. "Not that I've never been punched by Annabeth before, she does that to everyone, most of the time, but still... _darn._ "

Percy touched the band-aid, but even the slightest tingle made him wince.

"I'm really, really sorry, Percy." Grover was standing beside his bed, a look of guilt scrawled over his face. "Shit...I should have really remembered that fact that she already hated you. How could I forget?"

Percy lifted himself up by the arms to sit up. "About that," he started. "What _exactly_ happened two days ago that made Annabeth punch me in the face?"

Grover scratched his hair and fiddled with his fingers. "Um, yeah...about that. You really don't remember?" he waited for Percy's nod of affirmation before continuing. "Well, the two of you were pretty close when you first entered HOPE, y'know. I don't know who approached who first, but by the end of the day you two were basically inseparable. Then..."

Percy gestured for Grover to go on.

Grover avoided his eyes, took a deep breath and released it. "Well...um...you suddenly threw spiders at her and attacked her with your favorite weapon: a pen."

Silence.

Percy blinked. "...What?"

Grover scratched at his hair once again. "I said, _you threw spiders at her and attacked her with a pen._ " he repeated. "Your reason? You thought she was a 'monster in disguise'. Just like when you attacked your mother and Mrs. Desorden."

Leo joined in. "You really need to start getting original with your excuses, y'know."

Percy still had the inability to speak anything but: "...What?"

Grover took a deep breath and released it in exasperation. "I said-"

"No, don't repeat that." Percy interrupted. "What I mean is...why would I do that?"

Both Grover and Leo shrugged at the same time. "I don't know, man!" Grover answered. "I mean, you're delusional. That's reason enough, right?"

Percy rested his back on a pillow, looking down at the white bedsheets. A thousand _what ifs_ were flying around inside his head, continuously hitting at him like a machine gun. _What if everyone here's a monster and I'm the only demigod left? What if I_ am _actually delusional? What if this is all another dream?_

He remembered what Morpheus had mentioned: _Your world._

What world was he talking about? A world inside his head? Was he talking about Camp Half-Blood? Was he implying that Camp Half-Blood was all in his head?

Percy desperately wanted to pull at his hair and close his eyes. He desperately wanted an answer to all those questions. He wished he was as smart as any Athena kid, because maybe he'd still have a chance to figure it all out. The last time he was put in this kind of situation was when Hera took all of his memories and sent him to Camp Jupiter, but at that time he had his friends to help him figure things out. Now he's left to do it all on his own, and he didn't realize how hard it was until he found himself stuck in this bed, inside a mental hospital, talking to his possibly-amnesiac friends like nothing's wrong.

 _Knock, knock._

Once again, something cut him off from his thoughts. Someone was knocking on the door.

"Mr. Jackson?" a man in a white uniform called out, opening the door to peek in. "Someone's come to visit you."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. "Who?"

"Um," the man fumbled with a piece of paper, squinting his eyes and moving the paper closer to his face. After struggling to read for a few moments, he pocketed the piece of paper and faced Percy.

" _It's your father."_

* * *

 **I luv cliffhangers...:P**

 **Aaaaand, that's it! *dodges tomatoes and other squishy stuff* I know, I know! Forgive me! I have already told you, after all: I'm not the most punctual writer on the planet. I hereby give this chapter as a gift of apology for being a late updater? Eh? *hides in a corner***

 **All right, enough with me apologizing. :P**

 **Anyways, I really wanna know what you thought of this latest chapter, especially that part with Morpheus. SPECULATION TIME! Just kidding. But no, seriously, you guys have any guesses as to what's actually going on now? I hope the clues I've left make the story clearer and not...more confusing. :P**

 **Shoot...I didn't really expect those 18 reviews but...thank you! It means a lot to see what you think about this story! And because of that, cookies to y'all! (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)**

 **Review replies:**

 **PinkRaindrop, Muse45, PTJackson and ThePheonixOfAtlantis:** Here's the (amazingly late) update! I hope you liked this latest chapter! :)

 **Jennifer:** Thank you! I'm glad you think it is. I will, and I hope you like the latest chapter!

 **Adrift an Open Sky:** Thank you! You username's amazing, by the way  


 **Vel394:** BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! I will continue to execute my evil, diabolic endeavors!

 **mist on the sunrise, Guest, RareSpecies, A-Slytherin-Demigoddess:** Thank you! Y'all are amazing, too!

 **IfOnly42:** Ohhh, she didn't! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! (I'm so evul) But no, seriously, thanks for thinking it's great. It's my first time hearing that come from anyone about my works.

 **imriel:** He's alrady done that a couple of times. Too bad they don't believe him :(

 **passwordrawr:** (That moment when I thought your username is pronounced "Password Drawer" when it's actually "Password Rawr!") I should go hide in a corner now. Anyways, thank you! It's my first time writing a mystery-ish fanfic, so your review means a lot to me! :)

 **Hope y'all are enjoying those cookies!**

 **\- MadnessAndMe**


	4. Chapter 4

**5 months later...**

 ***reads through the reviews and wonders if you guys would throw tomatoes at me when I would finally update Chapter 4***

 ***grabs the nearest thing I could consider a shield***

 ***posts Chapter 4***

 ***waits for the tomatoes***

 ***hopes that they would never come***

 ***shields myself anyway***

 **So...yeah.**

 **My laptop broke.**

 **...**

 **Hi guys, this is Chapter 4, in which WE'RE GOING TO MEET PERCY'S DAAAAADDD!**

 **...**

 **I love y'all, really, for going this far. You little rebels surpassed those ten dots and now you're reading this.**

 **A little formula: Less school time = Faster updates.**

 **And since school year's out of my life now...YAY! Faster updates!**

 **Okay I should stop.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter** **4**

If only he didn't have 3 fathers in the course of his demigod life, Percy wouldn't have worried as to who was waiting for him in the visiting area.

Hopefully it was Paul, as much as Percy wanted it to be Poseidon. It would make so much more sense, and it wouldn't break Percy's theory: that he was only an Olympian experimental guinea pig right now, and all divine eyes were set on him.

As much as Percy hated the thought, there was still a _third_ person on his list. _Gods forbid_ , hopefully it wasn't Gabe Ugliano, but if he had been delusional ever since he was twelve, then petrified-Gabe never happened; for all he knew he was still lazing out in his apartment and asking Sally for bean dip.

"Earth to Percy, hey," the sound of teeth crunching on metal broke Percy from his trance. "Your old man's waiting for you behind that door, dude. Maybe you should stop staring at the wall and say hi to him?"

Grover extended out a hand so Percy could stand up, then gestured for the door. "Go ahead"

Just as he did with many other things, Percy had a bad feeling about it as he grasped the doorknob, turned and pushed.

One of the staff accompanied him to the visiting area, briefly listing the rules as they walked (Percy didn't take heed to it either way). Eventually they reached a particular table, occupied by a man with a bundle resting in his hands, seemingly paying no attention to anything.

One gentle tap on the shoulder later, and the man's eyes looked up, locking with Percy's. A warm, kind smile curved up on his face as he stood up.

"Perseus!"

 _Ah, crap..._

* * *

 _"Percy?"_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"You okay?"_

 _"Yeah, don't worry."_

 _A slight chuckle, and then silence once again._

 _"You're not okay."_

 _"It was just a nightmare, Annabeth."_

 _"Then tell me about it."_

 _Funny how silence dominated once again._

 _"Percy?"_

 _"...Alright. Remember that dream about the mental hospital?"_

* * *

"You're not my father."

The man paused halfway from hugging Percy, staring at him, brown eyes dancing with an amused glint. It had been long after the hospital worker had left them to themselves, during which they had to play along with each other.

Grinning, the man answered. "Well, duh."

He chuckled, rubbing his bushy beard as he gestured for Percy to sit down.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Then who are you and why are you pretending to be my dad?"

Settling himself to a chair, the man raised up the bundle he was holding and gave it to Percy. "You know, sometimes I wonder why I ever helped you when you were just a kid." He chuckled. "See this bundle?"

"What of it?" Percy asked, tossing it back and forth between his two hands.

"Don't open it yet."

Percy frowned. "You didn't answer any of my questions."

The man paused for a moment, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling. "Want to escape this place, kid?"

Percy didn't answer, partly because he was still annoyed at the man's lack of response to his questions, and partly because he wasn't sure if saying yes was the right decision.

"Well?"

Percy hesitated for a moment before answering. "Yes."

The man chuckled, and for a moment Percy felt a sense of deja vu, as if they had laughed with each other like this many times.

"Very well, then." The man smiled. "To answer your second question, that bundle will help you escape. Open it up at night and we'll go through the plan from there."

Percy nodded. "What about my first question?"

Percy watched as the man began standing up from his seat, straightening his brown suit jacket as he did so. "Hm?" the man asked.

"Who are you and why are you pretending to be my father?"

The man smiled again, a smile so familiar to Percy, yet it was dangling at the tip of his memory.

"Wow, you've only been here for three days and you already forget me?" the man chuckled. "It's me, Chiron, and I've treated you like my son for the past five years."

* * *

 _"...and you punched me in the face. Hard. Gods, it felt so real."_

 _Annabeth laughed. It was the kind of laugh that made Percy want to sleep all over again, knowing it would be dreams and not nightmares this time._

 _"You've read Alice in Wonderland, right? We had a version translated to Ancient Greek." she asked, resting her head on his chest. "I've always found it amusing, to realize that Wonderland was all just part of Alice's dream. That plot twist always surprised me when I was a kid."_

 _Percy grinned. "You should've given a spoiler alert." He laughed. "I've only heard of the title. Never knew the story, much less read it."_

 _Annabeth gave him a soft punch in the arm. "That nightmare you have? That mental hospital? That could be just your own version of Wonderland."_

 _There was silence for a moment as the two of them lay down in the sand and looked up at the stars._

 _"The last time I talked to you like this, you had six fingers."_

 _Annabeth sighed, entwining her hand with his as if to remind him that it had always been five fingers. "And you fainted afterwards, remember? Will said you had a mild concussion that apparently came from being headbutted by Jason in a spar."_

 _Percy let out a quiet_ 'ah...' _and nodded in comprehension. He remembered sparring with Jason the other day, and suddenly it all made sense to him. Annabeth could be right. Delusional Percy never existed. The mental hospital never existed._

 _All just a dream._

 _Percy held Annabeth close to him as they stared at the night sky, but as sleep began to overcome him, he couldn't help but think._

 _What if_ this _was Wonderland?_

* * *

Percy woke up that night to the sound of the Nokia ringtone by his bedside.

It came from the bundle.

 _He gave me a cellphone? Don't cellphones attract monsters?_

But then, given his current situation, he wasn't sure if there were monsters in Wonderland at all.

 _9:00 PM_

Chiron told him to be ready by 9:00 PM.

 _Chiron._

He still couldn't believe it was Chiron. After the revelation he spent half a minute staring directly at Chiron's face and seeing if he actually was the centaur. Of course there were a few differences that prevented him from recognizing Chiron easily at first, but eventually he realized that his old friend was wearing a disguise.

 _"Be ready by nine."_

Careful not to wake up Grover, Percy slowly opened the bundle and pulled out the old Nokia cellphone within. It had one text from Chiron.

 _slowly leave ur room. hospital staff at second floor, be sure to reach the janitor's closet._

Percy didn't like it when doors creaked, so he cringed when the door slowly opened. Craning his neck from left to right to check for roaming people, he suddenly looked down at the phone when it vibrated and played the ringtone.

 _and put the phone on silent._

Right. Silent. Ninja style.

It was a difficult trek, especially since Percy wasn't so good at stealth. Thankfully most of the hospital lights were off, minus the Staff room which was the only part barring him from reaching the janitor's closet.

 _If they see me I'm dead._

Positioning his feet on tiptoes, Percy slowly walked towards the janitor's closet, pacing a lot faster when he reached the Staff room door. For a moment he cringed as the light hit his body, hoping and praying that the staff didn't spot him in the two seconds he spent sneaking just directly in their line of sight.

"Did'ya hear that?"

 _Well, fuck._

It was the fastest that he had ever run in his life as he bolted towards the janitor's closet.

"Sounded like footsteps."

"Yeah"

"Think it's a wandering patient?"

"Most likely."

"Hm...someone should check it out."

For a moment all Percy could hear was silence as he hid inside the closet.

"Why're you looking at me?"

"You're the one who heard it first."

"Oh come on, man. You suggested the idea of checking it out."

"Remember that pic I saw on your phone?"

More silence.

"All right, all right. Fine."

Percy tensed. He began to hear footsteps, getting nearer and nearer, louder and louder. For a moment he heard angry muttering and pained sighs.

Then it stopped. He could see a shadow crawling in from the bottom of the door.

The doorknob moved, and by instinct Percy gripped it and tried preventing it from circling any further.

"Huh, locked. Hey Brett! Ain't the janitor's closet open at this point of time?"

"I think they locked it. Figured it was a popular hiding place for sneaky patients. Try looking at another area!"

"But...fine, fine."

Percy silently sighed in relief as the footsteps began to fade away. Slowly, he peeked through the bottom of the door to see if the guy had gone away.

 _Zone clear._

Pulling out the phone, Percy texted Chiron.

 _I'm in the closet. What's next?_

Which came with a fast reply:

 _go left. stairs there. get to the ground floor and head to the back exit. no one there. I'm right outside the door._

Careful not to make it creak, Percy closed the door and quickly ran left. He felt glad that he was barefoot, despite the cold seeping through the skin of his toes; he could barely hear his footsteps as he ran. Reaching out the hold the railings, Percy proceeded to go down the flight of stairs.

 _Second floor, done._

And then another flight.

 _First floor._

And the last one.

 _Back exit._

For a moment he used his legs as brakes, trying to know where the back exit was. There were two doors, no labels. _Shit._ Adrenaline was rushing through his veins as he paced to and fro, doubt dominating him.

"Percy!" he heard someone call out from the right.

 _Chiron_.

Immediately, Percy set his legs to work again. He could see a vague outline of a person by the door, gesturing for him to come nearer, and quick.

"Faster, Percy!"

He could here a group of footsteps behind him. _How'd they know?_

"Dammit, faster!"

And Percy did run faster. But the footsteps were gaining in on him, and Chiron was slowly backing away, hand by the door.

 _What was he doing?_

He could see the distraught in Chiron's face, as if he had no other choice. At that point, Percy knew that if couldn't reach Chiron, he would close the door on him to save himself from getting caught.

"Dammit, Percy, faster!"

But he couldn't. Suddenly he felt hands grab at his arm, his shirt, tackling him to the ground, locking him in place. He could hear the door creak, the light slowly receding, the lock clicking.

 _Closed._

Percy didn't fight. He had never felt so hopeless in his entire life.

 _Did he even have a life? Or was it all just a lie?_

He could hear the cellphone drop to the ground as the staff continued to tackle him. For a moment he tried to reach out and pick it up, but one of the men slapped his hand away. Suddenly all he could see was a fist coming towards his face.

Then, _black._

* * *

 **Cliffhanger-san has returned!**

 **Okay, so first of all, I want to apologize to y'all for taking a long time to update. You guys might've thought I wouldn't update again! (Forgive me, I'm just a simple 14-year old using a crappy laptop).**

 **Plus the fact that I got addicted to a MUD called Achaea...(shameless advertising)**

 **Anyways, I'd like to sum up all my replies to your beautiful reviews in one paragraph:**

 **Yes, Meet Me In Wonderland was born when I was watching The Magicians S01E04 (I think), when Quentin was imprisoned in a dreamland where everyone's crazy and all. And yes! I got the counting fingers to six from Teen Wolf, when my lovely baby Stiles was suffering from bad dreams. And no! I'm not gonna stop this story, so don't kill meeee! I love you guys so much (y'all know who you are). Imma give you cookies! (: :) (: :) (: :) (: :) (: :).**

 **...specially baked by Cliffhanger-san.**

 **Oh! And a little bonus: Remember that lady Percy attacked in Chapter One? Yeah, remember her name? Go to Google Translate and see what it means in Spanish. Then...connect the dots and voila!**

 **Anyways, thanks so much for reading!**

 **\- MadnessAndMe**


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